Without public fanfare, Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law Monday two bills regulating and legitimizing the state’s medical-marijuana industry, saying in a statement afterward they: “strike a delicate balance between protecting public safety and respecting the will of the voters.”

The bills, House Bill 1284 and Senate Bill 109, impose complicated licensing requirements on medical-marijuana dispensaries and crack down on doctors handing out unscrupulous marijuana recommendations. They were some of the highest-profile measures passed in the legislature this year, intended to bring the state’s voter-approved medical-marijuana system more into the open.

Supporters say the laws will professionalize the industry and make it harder for people to abuse the system. They cite requirements that would bar certain felons from owning dispensaries, rules to prevent doctors with restrictions on their medical licenses from writing marijuana recommendations and a mandate that dispensaries grow at least 70 percent of the pot they sell, eliminating wholesale marijuana growers and clarifying the supply chain.

But several prominent medical-marijuana advocates say the rules go too far and will push patients back into the underground marketplace. A team of lawyers has already begun recruiting potential plaintiffs for lawsuits challenging the laws’ constitutionality, especially a provision that will allow local governments or voters to ban dispensaries in their communities.

Attorney Jessica Corry, interim executive director of the medical-marijuana trade group Colorado Wellness Association, said she appreciates that some of the rules bring legitimacy to the industry.

But she said other rules, such as the local bans or the 70-percent requirement, will shut down honest businesses and hurt patients.

“Such bans will keep patients from benefiting from the new law and will jeopardize safe access to medicine,” Vicente said.

A number of law enforcement officials, meanwhile, say the rules don’t crack down on the industry enough. They argue that, by permitting marijuana dispensaries, the legislature overstepped its constitutional authority.

Many of the new dispensary rules don’t take effect until July 1, 2011, but dispensaries must apply for a state license by Aug. 1 and be able to verify that they are growing 70 percent of their marijuana by Sept. 1.

Meanwhile, some cities have already moved to outlaw dispensaries.

Vail’s Town Council last week banned dispensaries, and Greenwood Village officials are drafting an ordinance to do the same.

Aurora City Council members are preparing a ballot question that would ask voters whether they want dispensaries in the city, and other cities have extended their dispensary moratoriums while they figure out what to do.

Ritter took a measured tone in his statement Monday, saying the law will allow communities to put “sensible and much-needed controls” on dispensaries.

Prohibits people who haven’t lived in Colorado for two years from opening a new dispensary.

Allows local governments — or voters — to ban dispensaries in their communities.

Makes a legal distinction between dispensaries and “primary caregivers,” which are small-scale marijuana providers whose work is specifically protected in the state’s constitution.

Prohibits people operating as primary caregivers from serving more than five patients in most cases and requires them to register with the state.

Some provisions take effect immediately — dispensaries must apply for a state license by Aug. 1 — while others go into effect July 1, 2011.

Senate Bill 109

Requires doctors who recommend medical marijuana to complete a full assessment of the patient’s medical history, to talk with the patient about the condition that caused them to seek marijuana and to be available for follow-up care.

Prevents doctors from getting paid by dispensaries to write recommendations.

Bars doctors with restrictions on their medical licenses from recommending marijuana.

More in News

As news of the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, unfolded last week, Pia Guerra, a 46-year-old Vancouver-based artist, felt helpless. She couldn’t bring herself to go to sleep, so she began to draw.

Police who find suspected drugs during a traffic stop or an arrest usually pause to perform a simple task: They place some of the material in a vial filled with liquid. If the liquid turns a certain color, it’s supposed to confirm the presence of cocaine, heroin or other narcotics.

Doctors in Syria’s rebel-controlled suburbs of Damascus said Wednesday they were unable to keep up with the staggering number of casualties, amid a ferocious bombing campaign by government forces that has targeted hospitals, apartment blocks and other civilian sites, killing and wounding hundreds of people in recent days.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that whistleblower protections passed by Congress in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 apply only when those alleging corporate misdeeds bring their information to the government.